Bail Denied For 5 From Parson Ring

8 Other Family Members Jailed On State Charges

September 6, 1995|By MIKE FOLKS Staff Writer

A federal magistrate on Tuesday denied bail for five members of the Parson family after hearing testimony about threats to murder witnesses, lengthy criminal records and how the family's alleged cocaine distribution network operated.

Citing the defendants' "risk of flight and danger to the community," U.S. Magistrate Ann Vitunac denied the bail requests by the five men.

Federal prosecutors say the men, along with eight other family members, built a $200,000-a-week empire from small crack cocaine sales in West Palm Beach and Tallahassee.

Six of the eight other Parson family members are already in jail on state charges, and the remaining two - in the federal indictment charging all 13 with conspiracy - will be arraigned in Tampa and Tallahassee.

Under federal conspiracy laws, the Parson family members face sentences of 20 years to life.

But Assistant U.S. Attorney Ellen Cohen called Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Raymond Catena, who told of how the family conducted crack cocaine sales in neighborhoods around Sullivan Park, maintaining control through fear and intimidation.

As an example, Catena cited the Aug. 26 death of Philip Luke Daniel, 35, who died after being shot in the 600 block of Fourth Street.

Catena testified that the day after shooting, Stacy Ladrake Parson, the suspected shooter in Daniel's slaying, and Derrick Smith bought off and threatened witnesses in Sullivan Park.

"[Witnesses) were told not to talk to the police and were getting free cocaine. They were also told if they did talk to the police, both they and their families would be killed," Catena said.

Willie Louis Parson also threatened DEA investigators in June, Catena said, telling two agents "a stray bullet may hit you" and that their "witnesses will crumble."

Catena outlined some of the federal government's case against the Parson family, which includes videotapes of street drug transactions, telephone wiretaps, phone records, drug ledgers and other records seized in raids or during drug arrests.

The conspiracy counts, which carry sentences of 10 years to life, will be proven by testimony from confidential informants, identified in court only as "cooperating witnesses," Catena testified.

According to Catena, the family operaton converted between 268 and 360 kilos of cocaine into street sales between 1990 and 1994. During the investigation, two kilos of crack and 10 kilos of powder cocaine were seized, he said.

When defense attorneys sought to have relatives put up property as collateral for bail, Derrick Smith's mother, Cynthia Smith, refused to do so. Her decision angered her son, who had to be admonished by the magistrate for turning around and talking to his mother in the audience after she testified.

Claudia Vereen, Stacy Ladrake Parson's girlfriend, also declined to put up her home.

All five were ordered held without bail. Their next scheduled hearing is Oct. 6.